


theatrics

by cosmicpoet



Series: goro week 2019 [5]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi Goro Has A Palace, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Light Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slight Happy Ending, Suicide, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 00:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20805416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicpoet/pseuds/cosmicpoet
Summary: Goro Akechi has a palace. Ren isn't sure why, but he needs to make it to the end of it; something tells him that this is his only chance to save Goro before it's too late.But Goro believes it's too late already.





	theatrics

**Author's Note:**

> Please read the tags! This mentions Goro's mother's death, so don't read if that topic will be tough for you. Be safe!
> 
> Set post-Futaba's palace, pre-Okumura's palace.

It’s habit, by now, for Ren to turn his phone over and over in his pocket, keeping it close to him. There are far too many secrets on there that could easily get him arrested, not to mention that it’s the source of the Metaverse Navigation app itself - something that he’d be lost without. So he thinks nothing of it when there’s a slight vibration in his hand, ignoring it until later, focusing instead on sliding Goro’s third cup of coffee across the counter to him with a smile.

“Thank you,” Goro says, with all the pleasantries that Ren has grown somewhat accustomed to. His politeness is sickening at times, like he’s been trained into it, but Ren can at least sympathise with having to force an outward persona for the approval of others; he only needs to think back to the distance his parents put between themselves and their children for him to realise that it’s easier, sometimes, to pretend to be something you’re not. 

It’s routine for him to pull out the chessboard when there’s a lull in the conversation, not just to keep Goro occupied but to get him talking, too; there’s a lot that Ren aches to know about the man behind the celebrity, and the only surefire way to get him to open up is to challenge him intellectually. He doesn’t expect to win - he still struggles to think four moves ahead - but he’s getting better each time they play, and he can see in Goro’s eyes that he’s being presented with more of a challenge, this time.

And once the sun goes down, and dusk paints itself gracefully across the backstreets of Yongen-Jaya, Goro smiles a little sadly, pays for his coffee, and leaves.

This is how it is most days, when Goro isn’t busy with television appearances and Ren isn’t off exploring the Metaverse to try and reform society. But today is different - it _becomes _different, perhaps even historic, if he can try and think far enough in the future towards their mutual success, the moment that he checks his phone.

**Metaverse Navigator: Target Found. _GORO AKECHI._**

Goro has a Palace? Ren always knew that there was something he was hiding, but he hasn’t even entertained the thought until now that whatever it is could be deep and strong enough to warrant a necessary change of heart. He thinks back to all their conversations - how kind Goro was, how polite, yet assertive. How smart he’s always been.

Has he been lying to him this entire time?

His heart drops deep into the pit of his gut, like the world is suddenly crumbling around him, and he’s unsure of what to do when presented with such life-changing information. It’s not something he should keep secret from the rest of the Phantom Thieves, but he likes to think that he knows Goro far more intimately than they do, and they might take the news with a little less empathy than he’s trying to give, right now.

Still, any decision to go into a Palace has to be unanimous, and he’s nothing if not fair as the leader of their group.

Sending out an intentionally vague group text, he asks them all to come over to Leblanc as soon as they can, making it clear that he himself is fine (so they don’t worry), but it is, however, _urgent._

Half an hour later, they’re all sat in Ren’s room; Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba. Morgana perches himself on the table, and now they’re all staring at him, waiting for the news to drop.

“Goro Akechi has a Palace,” he says, quietly.

“For real? As in, _the _Goro Akechi?” Ryuji replies.

“Yes.”

“What are we going to do?” Makoto asks.

“I think we should check it out,” Ann says, “I mean, he’s obviously got some distorted desires. But you’d never think it was _him, _would you?”

“I… don’t know,” Ren says.

“Well,” Morgana paws his way into Ren’s lap, and he’s thankful for the comfort, “we could do some research first. Try and find his distortion.”

“That’ll be hard. I mean, he seems quite private,” Futaba says, “how are we supposed to know how Goro Akechi views the world?”

**Metaverse Navigator: Target Found. _THE WORLD._**

“W-What?” Yusuke says. “The entire world… is Goro Akechi’s distorted place?”

“I don’t think we should wait,” Ren says, trying to hide his anxiety for the sake of his team, “if the distortion is so large, we should probably sort this out as soon as possible. We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.”

“But we still are none the wiser as to what his distortion _is, _much less what he’s doing to warrant having a Palace at all, let alone such a vast one.”

Futaba types something on her laptop, looking intently at the screen for a few minutes before sighing. “There’s nothing at surface level that would suggest he’s dealing in any illegal business. Whatever it is, it’s either well-hidden, or extremely personal.”

“I think we should check it out,” Ren says.

“Ren,” Makoto looks at him, concern in her eyes, “this isn’t something we can rush into like this. I understand that Goro is closer to you than any of us, so I can’t imagine how you’re taking this news, but this could potentially be a lot bigger than the seven of us. Besides, we can’t proceed anyway until we know what his distortion is.”

“Well, what do we know about him?” Ann says. “He’s always at Leblanc. Maybe a coffee shop?”

**Metaverse Navigator: NO MATCH.**

“Maybe a courthouse?” Ryuji asks.

**Metaverse Navigator: NO MATCH.**

“Think deeper,” Yusuke says, “these are all things that we _know _about Goro. Whatever this is, it’s hidden deep within his heart. He may be wearing a mask far more than any of us are.”

“A mask,” Makoto says, “like… a masquerade ball?”

**Metaverse Navigator: NO MATCH.**

“Then… a theatre?” Ren suggests.

**Metaverse Navigator: Target Found. _THEATRE._**

“I’ll leave the decision up to you,” Makoto says, “since you know him best. If you think we should check the Palace out, then I’m with you.”

“It has to be unanimous,” Ren says, “I won’t let my… friendship with Goro put any of us in danger.”

“Whatever he’s doing, we could stop it. We could save someone. We could even save him, depending on the situation,” Ann tells them, “I’m in.”

The group all begin to nod their heads, and Ren can’t help but give a small, weak smile. He knows that they’re doing this on his behalf, and he desperately wants to be more logical about this, but the idea that Goro has a Palace is a little too much for him to bear emotionally. _Goro - _who compliments his coffee and teaches him chess and opens up about his life; could that all be a lie?

“Let’s go,” he says, determined.

**Metaverse Navigator: _BEGINNING NAVIGATION._**

It pains him more than he’s willing to admit that he enters the Metaverse already in his Phantom Thief outfit; meaning that Goro sees him as a threat. There’s so much he doesn’t know, and even more that he’s anxious to find out, but the knowledge that everything he loves about Goro could have been built on a lie shakes Ren to his core.

But he isn’t Ren anymore. Right now, he’s Joker, and he has a job to do. It’s easier to reconcile himself with everything if he forgets his identity and lays claim to a new one, if only for a little while. 

The surroundings are fairly normal. They’ve been dropped in the middle of Shibuya, and the people walking around look exactly as they would in the real world - it’s some sort of relief, at least, to see that Goro doesn’t view other humans as some horrible, distorted monsters, but it raises far more questions than it answers about what exactly is meant by _‘theatre’._

“Where do we go from here?” Skull asks. “I mean, it all looks normal.”

“Maybe we could try catching the subway? I mean, if the Palace truly is the whole world, then surely there’s got to be a way of getting around?” Panther says.

“I can’t scan the area,” Oracle sighs, “not as well as I can in Mementos. It’s just so big.”

“Goro,” Joker whispers to himself, “…what have you done?”

The subway entrance isn’t far, and were it not for the mask that feels heavy against his face, he could almost forget that he’s in the Metaverse at all. Everything is the same as usual, only with a dusty kind of lethargy to it that Joker attributes not to the palace, but to his own emotional turmoil tainting how he sees the world of Goro Akechi’s heart. He wonders what it would look like if _he _had a palace? Were he not able to meet his friends, he could have turned out just like Goro - however Goro truly is.

He’ll find out. He’s sure that Goro isn’t impossible to save.

There _has _to be hope.

Descending the stairs into the subway makes him gasp in horror. He was almost getting used to the normal surroundings, so entering a place that looks so strangely like Mementos hits him hard enough that he almost can’t breathe for a moment.

“This is… Mementos,” Fox says, “why does Goro Akechi’s palace look like Mementos?”

“Does this mean he… knows about Mementos?” Oracle asks.

“I can’t understand why his distortion would be so linked to the Metaverse otherwise,” Mona tries to give a flat explanation, “but how would he know? He can’t be a Persona user, can he?”

“My mum knew about the Metaverse, and she wasn’t. Maybe he was researching it?”

“Or maybe he _stole _the research,” Skull spits.

“No, he can’t have. Setting up such an elaborate plan alone would have been impossible for a then-seventeen year old to come up with, right?” Joker is unsure whether he’s trying to convince the others or himself.

“Either way,” Queen keeps her voice calm and rational, “we won’t find anything useful just standing around. If this truly is Mementos, then we’re equipped to deal with it.”

“Let’s push forwards,” Joker says, quietly adding, _“for Goro.”_

As they step through Mementos - or, at least, the _imposter-Mementos, _as Fox has begun to call it - Joker notices the distinct absence of violent shadows. It all just seems… dazed. Quiet. A little eerie, if he’s honest, but he won’t pretend that he isn’t glad that they can make headway into Goro’s Palace with as little interruption as possible. There’s something strange going on inside Goro Akechi’s heart, and he’s determined to save him from whatever is causing him such distress.

Because the alternative - that Goro Akechi is truly just a _bad person - _is laughably indistinct. There’s no way he can be. Joker prides himself on his judgement of others, and he wouldn’t have befriended - no, potentially fallen in love with - someone who could be capable of cruelty for cruelty’s sake.

No, there’s more going on here; the stakes have never been higher. 

A train pulls up beside them, screeching to a halt with the offensive sound of metal on metal piercing the air around them in all directions - Joker thinks back to the subway crashes, and wonders if this is going to topple over and crush them all to death in an instant. They all breathe a collective sigh of relief when the train stops moving, and they can peer inside; the windows are all fogged up, but it looks like someone is inside, trying to write something on the glass with their finger.

It comes out backwards, but it’s still readable. Whoever is inside there, it’s possible that they don’t expect anyone to be reading the message they’re putting out.

Which makes it all the more heartbreaking when Joker makes out the words _“PLEASE HELP ME” _in a childish scrawl.

The train doors open and he has no second thoughts about stepping inside; sure, this could be a trap, but he tells himself that he can never put his own safety above even the slim chance that someone more vulnerable is in danger - sure, it could be some misguided and definitely unhealthy hero-complex, but he’s fine with that as long as he can bite down the anxiety in his chest and feel like a person again.

He barely has time to see that the others have followed him before the train dissolves into an old house, creaky floorboards and children’s drawings pinned on the walls. It doesn’t look very big, or even well kept, but it has the feeling of something that used to be a home. _Used to be, _because all he can hear now are the desperate wails of a child upstairs, and he runs into danger without so much as checking that he’s equipped for battle.

But there aren’t any shadows that await him. The scene, instead, is far more horrifying. His eyes trace it all from the ground upwards, like taking it in slowly will give the whole thing a second chance to change - but it all remains the same. A short, brown haired boy clinging to the legs of what Joker assumes to be his mother, except she’s _dead, _and it’s evidently by her own hand. Everything becomes muffled, and he vaguely makes out a retching sound behind him, punctuated by tears that he can just about recognise as Panther’s, but he’s frozen on the spot, just looking at the ashen corpse, eyes frozen open and mouth in a silent scream, a gasp for air that never came.

“Come on,” the child - _Goro - _cries, “wake up, mum. Please. J-Just wake up.”

Hearing this snaps Joker out of his daze, and he almost forgets that he’s in the Metaverse; all he can focus on is getting Goro away from the scene so he doesn’t have to fixate on the dead body of his mother any longer. He makes a move towards them, and then there’s a terrible _pop _as the body falls, bones all fragile and cracking, dragging itself across the floor towards the Phantom Thieves; and then, with the sickeningly familiar haze of black ooze, a shadow emerges from the corpse and lunges towards them.

This is better. This, he can deal with.

“Panther, get Goro out of here. Fox, Mona, Queen, back me up!”

He attacks with a knife first, the close proximity allowing him to unleash some form of misdirected anger. Is this the truth of what happened to Goro’s mother? Is this the first step on the uncertain path to destruction that Goro must still be walking? 

It doesn’t take them long to defeat the shadow, and by the time they do, Goro dissipates into a wisp of white smoke, too. Suddenly, they’re back outside the train again, reeling from the scene they just saw. Although there aren’t any safe rooms around, Joker takes a moment to check on his teammates, and they spend five minutes healing, still not discussing anything about the revelation of Goro’s past.

“Let’s keep moving,” Queen says, “there’s more to this than we initially thought.”

As they progress through the imposter-Mementos, more shadows appear, as if the act of opening up has made Goro feel vulnerable enough to attack, which makes Joker wonder why Goro didn’t pull a gun on him there and then in Leblanc the moment he told him about his mother’s death. Still, hearing about it and seeing it firsthand are two wholly different experiences, and he can’t bring himself to hate Goro for whatever it is that’s caused him to have a Palace in the first place.

When another train pulls up, he looks for something inside, but there’s no writing, this time. The thought that Goro might have given up on being saved so soon aches, hollow in his chest, but he has to enter through the doors, a little more prepared for the scene to change, this time.

And then he’s in an orphanage, looking at a slightly older version of Goro. There’s the sound of soft crying, but it’s only in Joker’s head - the Goro that he sees here is keeping a straight face, fumbling through a rucksack of belongings until he pulls out a worn photograph and a letter.

“I miss you, mum,” he says, so quiet that Joker almost doesn’t catch it.

Behind him, there are other teenagers, talking in a way that is evidently an open show of excluding Goro. Joker catches words like _‘freak’ _and _‘useless’ _before they begin to walk towards Goro, still holding the photograph of his mother and reading what Joker assumes is her suicide note.

Instinctively, he moves between Goro and the bullies, knowing that he shouldn’t be here - this is a private and personal memory, but it becomes the business of the Phantom Thieves the moment the other teenagers turn into shadows, and then it’s just a matter of beating them and reaching out a hand to Goro, not quite managing to catch him before he becomes smoke once more.

Back in the subway station, he begins to understand why the shadows here are different. They’re not working _for _Goro’s shadow, but rather against him, like even his own heart is torn between two worlds, and there’s nobody on his side. Perhaps he’s not even on his _own_ side.

What is going on in Goro Akechi’s life to make him feel like the whole world is against him?

“Hold on,” Oracle says, “I’m detecting another Persona user.”

“What? Are you sure you haven’t just miscounted?” Skull says.

“No, look, I’m getting signals for Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, myself, and… something else…?”

“Who else could be in Goro’s palace?” Panther asks.

“I don’t know,” Joker says, “but we need to find out. It could be that man in the black mask. If it is… then we have to get to Goro before he can.”

“It looks like he’s closer towards the end of this section. If we find him, we could figure out his identity,” Fox says.

“I think he’s close to the treasure,” Mona tugs at Joker’s sleeve, worried.

“We don’t have time to waste. Sorry, guys,” Joker says, “but we have to get to the end today. We can’t go back yet.”

They all nod in agreement. In all honesty, the thought of leaving and coming back another day hadn’t even crossed Joker’s mind, but he doesn’t want to let the others down by making them think that he doesn’t have their safety on his mind at all times - he does, it’s just that all of his thoughts right now are in absolute disarray.

The next time they step onto a train, there’s no shadows to fight, no Goro in sight, only an empty room filled with sounds that clash into each other, harsh and fast and violent. Gunshots. Screams. Begs for mercy. Tears. The sound of nails against flesh. Crying. Screaming, but softer this time. More gunshots. Leather ripping. 

And then, silence. 

And then, a voice. Goro’s voice.

_“I don’t deserve to be saved.”_

This time, they’re spat out of the illusion so hard that Joker falls directly on his back, stunned for a second before he manages to sit up and think about what the _hell _they all just witnessed. If this is a part of Goro’s heart, why would he show it to them? Was this intentional? If it was, does Goro know about the Metaverse, and that they’re progressing through his Palace at this very moment?

“The signal is getting stronger,” Oracle says.

“I can sense the treasure up ahead,” Mona adds, “so it won’t be long, now.”

“Then let’s go,” Joker says.

Fighting the shadows that block their path to the end of this section of Mementos is nothing compared to the rising anxiety of what they’ll find if they get there too late. And Joker is enamoured by the terrifying wonder of what Goro’s shadow will look like, and the question of when it comes down to it, will he be able to hurt him without flinching?

No, this is to save him. It has to be. Damn Goro for thinking that his situation is bigger than him - if Arsene has taught him anything, it’s that there’s always a chance to take back control over a life that seems to be out of your hands.

Breathless from the fights, the Phantom Thieves take a moment to lean against the wall and recover a little of their health, before pushing forwards into the red and black, dust filled veil that undoubtedly holds the un-manifested treasure - and the answers that they’re desperately searching for - beyond it.

Ah, so this is what the Metaverse Navigator meant by _‘theatre’. _They breach through the veil into a grand hall, thick scarlet curtains heavily covering a stage. Nobody sits in the audience seats, and even when they whisper, their voices carry like ghosts across the vast expanse of _nothingness. _Something like lead sinks into Joker’s chest as he walks down the aisle, reaching up his gloved hand to the curtain and stepping through.

There’s the familiar glint of an un-materialised treasure, but beyond that, there’s Goro. Or, at least, it _looks _like Goro, if Goro wore a dirty blue and black striped suit, wielded a gun, and covered half of his face with a…

_A black mask._

“Oh,” Joker says.

“I think you’ve done this in the wrong order, _Ren. _Surely you’re supposed to send me a calling card before you come barreling in here playing hero,” Goro spits.

“We didn’t expect you to be sitting here guarding it like some kind of hyped-up security guard!” Skull shouts.

“Then I suppose I’ve outsmarted you once more. Although I will say, it’s an interesting turn of events. I didn’t expect you to find my Palace so soon. Did you know that Persona users can have Palaces, too? Or perhaps I’m just special.”

“Goro… this isn’t you,” Joker - _Ren - _says.

“Oh, but it is. Sorry to disappoint, but that simpering, _pathetic _Detective Prince is nothing but an act. You really think I cared for you? It was nothing but a mistake to tell you about my childhood. You and your gang of… _freaks, _thinking you can change the world by reforming society? I’ll watch you try. But you won’t beat me. What I’m trying to accomplish is far bigger than the Phantom Thieves can comprehend.”

“He’s a Persona user…?” Panther says.

“This is bad,” Queen backs towards the curtains, “we should retreat for now.”

“No! We can’t just leave him,” Joker says.

“Joker, he’s not in any danger of the man in the black mask. He _is…”_

“I know.”

“Then let’s retreat.”

“That’s right,” Goro smirks, “go back and send your little calling card. I’m sure the real-world me will be positively terrified at the thought of failure at the hands of the Phantom Thieves. But he needn’t worry. I’m stronger than all of you combined.”

“He’s just… letting us go?” Fox asks.

“Come on,” Joker says, tearing his eyes away from Goro.

Back in the real world, Ren collapses onto his bed in Leblanc and sobs into his pillow for an hour. Despite Morgana’s weak protests for him to get up and get the calling card ready, he can’t do anything except think of how unfair the world is, to have driven Goro to be so jaded and hateful of himself more than anything else. Remaining optimistic is hard - he wants to save Goro, but it sounded so much like begging when the echoes of Goro’s voice in the Palace told him that he doesn’t deserve to be saved.

He manages to pull himself up into a sitting position when Ryuji texts him about the calling card. As much as he doesn’t want to read it, he knows that he has to; it has to be just right, because this is their only chance to help Goro out of the mess that the world has thrust him into.

_Dear Goro Akechi, the great sinner of disbelief. Your crimes have manifested into distorted desires that we are sure you are aware have caused your heart to swell into a Palace with a bitter sense of hatred. We will steal these desires away from you and give you the second chance that you so adamantly insist you do not deserve. _

_From,_

_The Phantom Thieves._

It’s very different to their usual calling cards, but this situation is unlike anything they’ve faced before. Goro is evidently aware of the Metaverse - he’s used it to commit crimes, and so the calling card needs to be direct, to prove to him that this isn’t some kind of joke or prank by anyone but the real Phantom Thieves themselves.

But he doesn’t want to drag Goro’s reputation through the mud before he understands everything that he’s done and whatever drove him to it. And so he texts the group back.

**Ren Amamiya, 9:14 PM: **Sounds good. Don’t send it publicly.

**Ryuji Sakamoto, 9:15 PM: **why not?

**Ren Amamiya, 9:16 PM: **Too risky. Should be more private.

**Makoto Niijima, 9:16 PM: **Are you trying to spare his feelings? Or his reputation?

**Ren Amamiya, 9:17 PM: **We don’t know the full situation yet. As long as he reads it, it should be okay.

**Futaba Sakura, 9:18 PM: **yeah, i read mine on my own and it still worked! i can find his address and we can get mona to post it through his door?

**Ren Amamiya, 9:20 PM: **OK.

The next day, Morgana gives confirmation that he posted the calling card, and that he heard the sound of Goro behind the door picking it up. Which means that he’s read it.

All they have to do now is go back into that Palace. It’s nothing they haven’t done before. 

It should be easy. So why does Ren feel like he’s about to die?

Back in the Palace, Joker takes a deep breath before breaching through the veil into the theatre once more. The curtains are open, this time, and the treasure is floating right where they expected it would be, although it’s covered by a garish black and white fabric, making it impossible for them to see what it is.

And of course, Goro’s shadow is there, too. He looks like he’s seething with anger, and they barely have time to walk down the aisle before he’s summoning his Persona - _his Persona - _and firing attacks at them. 

Fighting shadows is something Joker is used to. But the look of abject malice in Goro’s eyes is something he never wants to acclimatise himself to.

“Just leave!” Goro shouts.

“No,” Joker says back, his voice coming out calmer than he expected, “not without saving you.”

“Fuck your moral bullshit! I don’t _want _to be saved,” Goro takes another hit, knocking Mona down temporarily. 

“You tell yourself that, but it’s a lie. I can see it. You’re not hopeless.”

“You don’t _know _what I’ve done! I’ve killed people. Lots of people! I’m a fucking assassin, for god’s sake! You just want to make me confess my crimes and lose everything I’ve worked so hard for!”

“I don’t care about confession. I care about you.”

“Bullshit! Maybe I’d have believed you if you said that years ago, but nobody in this whole world cares about me!”

“Maybe not until now. But I’m not lying to you.”

“I’m _unforgivable! _Do your worst, but I won’t be beaten! Loki!”

“Arsene!”

“Give it _up, _Ren!”

“I don’t want to hurt you. But I won’t let you hurt yourself.”

“I’ve been exploiting the Metaverse since I was sixteen! Killing people just so my piece of shit father would acknowledge me and I could finally take him down at the peak of his popularity! I won’t let all that be for nothing! I won’t!”

“There’s another way.”

“There _isn’t,” _Goro spits, “you act all high and mighty, changing people’s hearts and trying to reform society, but it’s pathetic! Look at you all - you’re all so lucky, with your friends and your lives, and you want to take away the only thing that I’ve ever managed to do for myself?”

“That’s not true.”

“It _is!”_

“You’ve managed a lot more than that. You made a name for yourself as a detective,” Fox says.

“Only because I was turning people psychotic and solving the cases myself!_” _Goro seethes with anger as he summons his Persona for another attack; his eyes are wild and unhinged and terrifyingly focused. His hits are reckless, his words harder to understand; spit flies from his mouth with each scream, and it takes all of the Phantom Thieves fighting together to even knock him down.

Joker walks over to him, and he should probably be exercising more caution than he is, but he’s desperately reaching his hand out to Goro, wanting to pull him up from his knees and take him home. But he doesn’t reach him in time.

Ropes snake down from the ceiling and coil around Goro’s arms and legs, hoisting him upwards into an unnatural position. His face contorts into a choked scream, and Joker has to push back the thoughts that _god, he looks like his mother._

He’s just a marionette. Even though he has no fight left in him, some invisible force jerks the ropes around, pulling the mask off his face with enough force to slit his cheek open, blood pooling in crimson dots around the cut. It’s all out of Goro’s control, now, he’s being puppeteered, mishandled, and it aches in his eyes - eyes which are now terrified, begging for help. He summons his Persona and attacks the group, but Joker knows that it’s not by his own doing; his heart has grown too afraid of himself, too self-hating, to accept that there’s a way out. It seems like this will be a fight until the bitter end, and Joker only hopes that he can get Goro out of there alive, even if it costs him his own life.

Love shouldn’t feel like this. Love should be what comes after.

He hopes that there will be an _after._

They coordinate their attacks to hit the ropes, not Goro himself, trying to keep him as far from the direct blows as possible. Slowly, they get the upper hand, managing to cut all but one of the ropes - the one around Goro’s left wrist, still trying to yank him into destruction with all the strength that he evidently doesn’t have left. 

It’s a risk, but he has to take it. Joker runs directly towards Goro, cutting the rope in two with his knife and watching it coil back into the shadows.

Then, silence. For a moment that stretches on into eternity, until Goro’s shadow is falling, hitting the ground with a resonant _thud._

He pulls a gun, but Joker doesn’t back down. He’s glad of that, as soon as he realises what Goro intends to do, aiming it at his own head; Joker lunges, pushing it out of his hand just fast enough.

“Stop it,” he says, looking at Goro’s shadow and wondering how his real-world counterpart is, “it’s over.”

“For me it is.”

“For this version of you. You can change.”

“What’s the point? I’ll confess my crimes in the real world, go to jail, never be able to get revenge on my father for my mother’s death and for putting me through the hell of being an unwanted child. I’d rather just die.”

“You owe it to someone.”

“I don’t owe you anything.”

“Not me,” Joker says, guiding Goro to look at the theatre audience - only one seat is occupied, and it’s taken by the wide-eyed, tearful child from the first scene that the Phantom Thieves encountered, “you owe it to him.”

“What do I do now?”

“That’s up to you to figure out.”

“And what if I can’t?”

“You can,” Joker says, watching out of the corner of his eye as Skull and Fox take the treasure. It looks smaller like this, up close.

He just about manages to squeeze Goro’s hand before the Palace begins to collapse.

And then they’re running through the haze, and he’s hoping that Goro’s shadow can follow through on his promise. There’s nothing poetic about the final mental shutdown occurring to the man who caused them, because Joker knows that it’s not Goro’s fault - he still doesn’t know _everything, _but he can infer enough that Goro has been being manipulated for a long time, now.

Aren’t second chances what this whole thing is about?

They make it out of the Metaverse in one piece, landing hard and fast just outside the subway entrance. There’s nothing that can really be said, so they part ways and head to their respective homes; thank god there’s no school or obligations tomorrow, because Ren feels like he’s about to collapse and never wake up from the mental and physical exhaustion.

Morgana doesn’t have to tell him to go to sleep. He’s faking it, or course, but it’s a pretty convincing performance; and as much as he wishes he _could _sleep the tiredness away, there’s a knot in his stomach that takes the form of ropes around not his heart, but Goro’s. Perhaps they’re more connected than he initially thought.

A knock on the door startles him out of his thoughts. Worry overtakes him when he realises that it’s approaching 1am, and there’s no _good _reason for a visitor in the middle of the night - it couldn’t be Sojiro or Futaba, because they have access to the keys, and there’s only really one person that Ren can think - or _hope _\- is at the door.

He’s right.

Thank god, he’s right.

When he opens the door and sees Goro standing there, looking dazed and exhausted, he doesn’t hesitate before pulling him inside and up the stairs.

“You changed my heart,” Goro says.

“Yeah. I figured you’d know.”

“I… what do I do now?”

“Your shadow asked me that.”

“God, I don’t want to think about that. I’m sorry… you had to see that side of me. I don’t know how I can atone,” he takes a gun out of his pocket, turning it over in his hands. Memories of the Palace flash through Ren’s mind, and he instinctively lays his hands over Goro’s and shakes his head.

“Not that,” he says, “that won’t help anyone.”

“I’ve lost everything, Ren.”

“You’ve not lost me.”

“Well you _should_ leave me. I don’t know how much my shadow told you, but I… I’m an unforgivable criminal.”

“You were being manipulated, weren’t you?”

“I thought I had the upper hand. I thought it would all be worth it if I could take down my father at the apex of his power. But I was a fool… he was just using me, I know that, now. I don’t know how I’m supposed to escape, I’m in too deep.”

“You’re never in too deep to be saved,” Ren gently takes the gun away and lays it on his desk, sitting down next to Goro on the bed.

“Maybe you could have told me that before all this begun. Maybe then I’d be a good person.”

“You can still redeem yourself.”

“I… I’ll never forgive myself.”

“Maybe you won’t. But maybe you will. It’s worth trying.”

“What could I possibly do to make up for everything I’ve done?”

“You know, I still have your Treasure here.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t understand it,” Ren pulls out a small box, “it’s a toy gun.”

Goro runs his hands over the words _Proof of Justice _on the box. “Ah,” he says, “I didn’t expect it to be something so…”

“You could join us. You have a Persona, don’t you?”

“I… have two.”

“With you on our team, I think we’d be able to do a lot more good. We could even change your father’s heart.”

“I’m not sure what I want, anymore. Except sleep. I want to sleep for days and days and never wake up.”

“Stay here,” Ren says, “we’ll figure it out together.”

And then, moments later, with his hand running through Goro’s hair, he whispers the words, _“You’re not alone.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment if you liked it :) I just love marionette imagery so much...


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